so i've been playing bass for a full year now, and looking to be able to read music as most people said that it'll be worth it if you be able to read music sheet. i'm wondering how long does actually learning sheet music takes, and no, im not taking it too seriously, so please dont just say "just learn and eventually you'll be able to read it" stuffs like that. just wanted to see how long would it actually take to achieve the ability to read music and be able to set target for my learning.
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Even an absolute beginner should see tangible progress after 1 lesson with a good teacher. A good place to start is learning the letter names corresponding to the lines and spaces of the staff (GBDFA for the lines; ACEG for the spaces) and the basic units of rhythm (whole/half/quarter/eighth/sixteenth notes).
The way I learned to read music (in addition to lessons) was the same way I learned to read English. With English, my parents would read a book out loud, while I followed along in the book and tried to make sense of the symbols on the page. With music, I would listen to a recording, while I followed along in the songbook or score and tried to make sense of the symbols on the page. Fun and effective.
The way I learned to read music (in addition to lessons) was the same way I learned to read English. With English, my parents would read a book out loud, while I followed along in the book and tried to make sense of the symbols on the page. With music, I would listen to a recording, while I followed along in the songbook or score and tried to make sense of the symbols on the page. Fun and effective.
How to read can be learned in a week or so. Playing from SN is another story. You have to play from SN every day or rust develops. Now this reading can be done with out your instrument -- just keep some sheet music handy and read every chance you can find. Gotta keep the rust off.
Reading is just the start, finding the note and playing it before the music moves on, is also part of the learning process...
Reading is just the start, finding the note and playing it before the music moves on, is also part of the learning process...
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I started playing in a Big Band, because a friend of mine recommended me to them. I couldn't read a single note before. In 2 weeks i have learnt all the pieces (around 30) and could sightread pretty much everything. I know dont have any problem to sightread, even if i dont read for a month.
Just depends how much you practice
Just depends how much you practice
How long it takes is determined by how much effort you put into it.
Most people average a week to learn and get comfortable reading any standard notation you're most likely to encounter.
After that you just learn whatever additional notational symbols or markings you need to know as you encounter them.
The hardest part is making the resolution to learn it. However, once you start, it's pretty easy to pick up. So easy that I'm continually amazed at how many would-be musicians put up a fight about learning how to read music.
After that you just learn whatever additional notational symbols or markings you need to know as you encounter them.
The hardest part is making the resolution to learn it. However, once you start, it's pretty easy to pick up. So easy that I'm continually amazed at how many would-be musicians put up a fight about learning how to read music.
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Get with a group of musicians that read. Keeping up with reading musicians is the fastest way. Failing that, get a drum beat or metronome to keep you moving. One of the things that slows people down in the learning curve is stopping to correct mistakes, or slowing down when the music gets a little unfamiliar. That's why playing with other people is such a good thing.
That said, reading music at sight is a skill that takes a while to develop and something that you'll work on for many years. Understand to that there are some terms that are changed about mistakenly. Sight reading, that is, reading music correctly without practice the first time you see it is the ultimate goal. This is a skill worth having. In the last week I've had 5 gigs with 4 different groups and all of it was sight reading, no rehearsals. Some people will use the term to mean, reading something they've learned to play and practiced, other will use the term to mean being able to at your own speed, decipher collection of notes and learn the part that way.
That said, reading music at sight is a skill that takes a while to develop and something that you'll work on for many years. Understand to that there are some terms that are changed about mistakenly. Sight reading, that is, reading music correctly without practice the first time you see it is the ultimate goal. This is a skill worth having. In the last week I've had 5 gigs with 4 different groups and all of it was sight reading, no rehearsals. Some people will use the term to mean, reading something they've learned to play and practiced, other will use the term to mean being able to at your own speed, decipher collection of notes and learn the part that way.
To learn to read it takes two years, thirty-seven days, four hours, two minutes and twelve seconds. If it doesn't take you exactly this amount of time you've done something wrong and will have to start over.
I fell into an extremely fortunate situation where my first gig I was required to read sheet music was on a pit band job with a small community theater. The director, knowing I was strictly an ear player at that point, gave me a CD at the same time as the score. By listening to the CD and following along (WITHOUT PLAYING) in the score, I was soon able to see how the intervals and rhythms I was hearing were being represented in sheet music (I actually have a harder time reading rhythms than notes for whatever reason). Certain types of music (like the musical I was playing) have a pretty small stock repertoire of go-to intervals and rhythms (waltz, 6/8, 2-feel cut time, etc.) and once I realized those patterns it was just a matter of translating them to the fretboard. By the time we hit the 4th or 5th rehearsal I had the show in hand, was able to pull off the performances handily and when they asked me back the next season I didn't even need the CD even though it was a completely different show.
YMMV and I didn't really answer the OP's question but there may be some tips in there you can pull out. I WOULD NOT recommend signing on for a hard-core sheet reading gig the first time out. Like I said, I was just in a quite forgiving situation.
YMMV and I didn't really answer the OP's question but there may be some tips in there you can pull out. I WOULD NOT recommend signing on for a hard-core sheet reading gig the first time out. Like I said, I was just in a quite forgiving situation.
Reading music notation really well is similar to being able to read words really well. In general, it takes years of constant practice. Just think of how long it took you to learn how to read and write English. Music should be similar.
you should get the basics within a couple weeks. however, it takes a long time to learn all of it's ins and outs like rhythms, ledger lines and such
I think you are asking yourself the wrong question OP. The real question is how good at it do you want to be? If you just want to become comfortable with the basic note names and rhythmic values, about 50ish hours of practice/study time should do it. If you want to be able to learn simple tunes from sheet music or get the gist of what's going on in a bass part relatively quickly, you are probably looking at 200-300 hours. If you want to be able to read at a professional level, I'd say at least 3,000-5,000 hours over the course of several years.
It's just like the question "how long does it take to learn to play bass?" One can learn to play a few simple songs over the course of a few weeks-but if you want to be able to play like victor Wooten, it's a different deal
It's just like the question "how long does it take to learn to play bass?" One can learn to play a few simple songs over the course of a few weeks-but if you want to be able to play like victor Wooten, it's a different deal
first , i wouldn't suggest what people should say or not as this is an open forum .. !?
this has always been a very hard question for me to answer , because i could read music before i could read words .. ! i would advise learning both treble/bass clefs , ... most Sheet Music has many parts , bass , rhythm parts , melody ... i would want to be able to read and play any/all parts .!
for us to guess how long it would take someone we don't know to learn something is a really wild guess ... !
some people pick things up much easier/quicker than others ... then there is the Music Theory side of it , such as different keys , chord structure , notes / rhythms , etc .
just learning what the notes are on the staff shouldn't take very long at all (weeks ) ... being able to ' sight read ' without mistakes and play with feeling , takes much longer ( years )
this has always been a very hard question for me to answer , because i could read music before i could read words .. ! i would advise learning both treble/bass clefs , ... most Sheet Music has many parts , bass , rhythm parts , melody ... i would want to be able to read and play any/all parts .!
for us to guess how long it would take someone we don't know to learn something is a really wild guess ... !
some people pick things up much easier/quicker than others ... then there is the Music Theory side of it , such as different keys , chord structure , notes / rhythms , etc .
just learning what the notes are on the staff shouldn't take very long at all (weeks ) ... being able to ' sight read ' without mistakes and play with feeling , takes much longer ( years )
As a music teacher, I can tell that it's not hard to learn to read notes slowly. The hardest part is to learn to read and play rhythm accurately.
Learning the basics of reading and writing music is very easy. If you're starting from zero, (no clue what a staff is or what a treble or bass clef looks like) you'll cut your time in half with a teacher or someone who reads that can answer your questions. There are a ton of online resources and I'm sure you could get plenty of help around here.
I just wanted to weigh in. When i first started on the bass I also took up the organ, and was able to get halfway decent at reading the 2 clefs within about a year.
However, I stopped doing that much, and 15 years later, I find my reading is pretty poor.
Lately I've taken it up again and a couple of things I've found pretty helpful since I started about a month ago:
1. writing out harmonized scales and modes and spelling each in my head (E,G#,B etc.) as I write it. Writing out anything by hand is extremely helpful for memorization (you may have noticed my near-impeccable spelling.
)
2. Playing simple melodies that I could already sing while sight reading (today I used a civil war songbook, so Battle Hymn of the Republic, When Johnny Comes Marching Home etc.) You pretty much have to learn treble clef for this technique, but that's for the best.
As others have said the rhythm is the hardest part, that's why I like tip #2.
Good Luck!
However, I stopped doing that much, and 15 years later, I find my reading is pretty poor.
Lately I've taken it up again and a couple of things I've found pretty helpful since I started about a month ago:
1. writing out harmonized scales and modes and spelling each in my head (E,G#,B etc.) as I write it. Writing out anything by hand is extremely helpful for memorization (you may have noticed my near-impeccable spelling.
)2. Playing simple melodies that I could already sing while sight reading (today I used a civil war songbook, so Battle Hymn of the Republic, When Johnny Comes Marching Home etc.) You pretty much have to learn treble clef for this technique, but that's for the best.
As others have said the rhythm is the hardest part, that's why I like tip #2.
Good Luck!
THIS...THIS, THIS, THIS, Learn the rythm.
And chord structures. That will help you immensely.
As mentioned before, if you don't get it right at this point, you will not be that good at it in the future.
